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Belfast has a tide that averages about 10' every 6 hours. It goes up and goes down with the moon's pull. The harbor is the ocean and not a big lake.... as we often hear people ask. The tide moves sometimes as much as 13'! At low tide there's a lot to be seen.
Only visible at low tide, the bones of old wooden
schooners can be seen along the waterfront at two locations. Walk along the path
by the harbor in Steamboat Landing Park (between the Boathouse and Consumers
coal yard), you'll see the remains of a schooner brought in and left to the
elements. Up river, along the Robbins Road on the east side you can also see the
remains of a ship, demasted and brought upriver to rot. Only her keel and ribs
remain. Very few traces of this once bustling, ship-building port town remain,
these are worth a visit.
Check out the little cove in Heritage Park where Dana's Sarsaparilla, Belfast's very famous tonic bottlers, once bottled. Look for shards! The bottling plant for a popular late 19th century "cure-all" with 96% alcohol was located nearby and when it closed, the remaining bottles were dumped into the harbor. Look for the pale blue glass. If you're lucky you might find a piece with Belfast or Dana's embossed on it. You'll also be able to find some good pieces of slag left behind from the old Foundry, which was also located in the Dana's building.
From Belfast City Park or Heritage Park you can walk either way the entire distance of +/- 1 mile as long as you are at low tide. Walk one way along the tide and back through the neighborhoods.
Submitted by the Queen of Belfast History Megan Pinette
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